"Outside a dog a book is man's best friend, inside a dog it is too dark to read!" -Groucho Marx========="The person, be it gentleman or lady, who has not pleasure in a good novel, must be intolerably stupid." -Jane Austen========="I don’t believe in the kind of magic in my books. But I do believe something very magical can happen when you read a good book."-JK Rowling========"I spend a lot of time reading." -Bill Gates=========“Ahhh. Bed, book, kitten, sandwich. All one needed in life, really.” -Jacqueline Kelly=========

Sunday, May 21, 2017

Sunny Sunday Salon, May 21

Our backyard is so lovely this time of year.
Weather: Perfect. Blue skies, temperature warm but not hot.

Ear Infection: This whole week I have been suffering from a middle ear infection. My Eustachian tubes are plugged which has caused fluid buildup, which causes pressure on my inner ear, causing intermittent vertigo. Lovely. Wednesday I wasn't sure if I was going to make it home from school, I was so dizzy. Lucky for me the car knows the way. I've been stuck in the house since then, not wanting to go out in case I have another attack of the dizzies. I hope I can make it to school tomorrow, since Don is on a trip to Idaho and I am on my own.

The good part of being stuck in the house: I have finally started to catch up on my blogging. I am so far behind on my book reviews, it was good to have an excuse to write. So far I have written four book reviews and I anticipate another one done today once this dizzy spell passes. Check them out:

Books completed this week:
  • Vincent and Theo: The van Gogh Brothers by Deborah Heiligman. A biography of the famous artist and his brother, based on primary documents. Very well done but long.  Audio and print.
  • This Is How It Always Is by Laurie Frankel. A book club selection about a family who attempts to keep the secret of their child's sex/gender assignment not matching genitalia. Very thought-provoking. Audio and print.
  • The Hen Who Dreamed She Could Fly by Sun-mi Hwang. A little fable recommended by a blogging friend, Deb Nance at Readerbuzz. Cute. Print.
Abandoned this week: (I decided I am no longer interested or just ran out of time)
  • The Girls from Ames
  • The Gift, poems by Hafiz
Currently reading: 
  • Wolf by Wolf by Ryan Gaudin---I am on a race to finish this book before the end of the school year and retirement. Another book recommended by a fellow blogger, Alicia of A Kernel of Nonsense. I just started. 1%. Print.
  • We Are Okay by Nina LaCour---a YA selection based on its starred reviews. Two friends separated by space and circumstances try to reconnect. LGBT-themes. Audio. 65%.
A bookish thought or two: Now that retirement is just around the corner, or even closer, I am starting to think of my life without a library at my fingertips. I know, I can still use the public library systems but it won't be the same. I think that will be the hardest thing about leaving the school for the last time in June.// I am also thinking about books as a finite thing. Let's say I live for another 25 years and can pull off reading say 60 books a year, which seems like a reasonable number once I won't be reading as much YA literature, that means I have about 1500 more books ahead of me. With a finite number like that to contemplate, it makes me think I should be more picky about what I read. If I am not enjoying a book I hope to give myself permission to abandon it or to just read a bit and set it aside without forcing myself to finish it out of some kind of inner compulsion. We'll see how successful I am at it. 

On that note: I checked out this list of books mentioned on the TV show "The Gilmore Girls" read by Rory Gilmore, after it was mentioned by another blogger at Utopia of Mind. It contains 339 books. I've read 94 of them. Many of the others are on my virtual reading list. How many have you read? My English teacher friends have all read more than me. Several of the book on the list are complete short story collections or complete volumes of poetry which I have read some but not all. I didn't count those. Since Rory read so much I am sure we all know why she was so brilliant!

Walk in the sun: Time to get out of the house and see how I do with a short walk around the block. Hopefully I don't get half way and get hit by a bout of the dizzies. Maybe I should plant flowers instead. I hate to be too far from a chair or coach.

Love you!


14 comments:

  1. I've read quite a few of the books on the Rory Gilmore list...I'm going to do an actual count....

    I have a copy of This Is How It Always Is...and now I'm more interested than ever in reading it.

    I'm all for DNFing books that don't keep me engaged. I have lists of my book purchases for the past few years, and I am now going through and crossing out books that no longer grab me.

    Enjoy your post-retirement life! I'm loving mine.

    Here are MY WEEKLY UPDATES

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    1. I will have practice more DNFing in the future. Time is too short to read bad books! (I think the quote is really something about drinking bad wine!)

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  2. After My CI IMplant surgery I was dizzy for a week straight. Not a pleasant feeling. I hope it passes soon for you soon though.

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    1. Ugh. That must have been awful for you. My dizziness isn't constant but I never know when it will hit.

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  3. I never liked the Gilmore Girls, but I may have to look at the list anyway. :) Good for you for setting goals. Mine are more to the tune of how many trips, coffee dates and Happy Hours I can fit in. LOL

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    1. I was never a big Gilmore Girls fan either but my daughters, especially Carly, loved it so the show was often on when I was in the room. I never noticed that Rory read as much as this list suggests.

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  4. Numbers really put my final reading years in perspective. Oh my! Only 1,500 books left to read. I need to choose carefully, I think.

    https://readerbuzz.blogspot.com/2017/05/good-grief-its-almost-summer.html

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    1. I attended an event where Anthony Doerr was the guest speaker and he was the one who talked about the number of books he had left to read in his life. It has been rattling around in my head ever since then. How many books can I cram in before I die and, presumably, not care any more? The low number is startling. From this day forward, with the exception of book club selections, I refuse to read bad books!

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  5. I'm all for DNFing too. Unfortunately, lately I have been doing too much of it, but it is good to let go when the book isn't "grabbing you."

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    1. I will need to tap into your energy. I have this compulsion to finish books even when I don't like them. That usually ends up slowing down the reading, too, so I am double tortured. Ha!

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  6. I've read at least 53 of the books on that list. I'm thinking I'll have to try that show - somehow I've never seen a single episode.

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  7. Oh, Anne - so sorry to hear you have been ill this week but glad you have made the best of ti and caught up on reviews!

    I am curious to hear why you gave up on The Girls from Ames because is has been waiting patiently on MY shelf for years now! MY TBR bookcase(s) are overflowing - I'm thinking I may need to just pass some of them on without reading them...though I hate to give up!

    This Is How It Always Is sounds intriguing - I've been hearing a lot about it. It is nonfiction/memoir, right?

    Enjoy your books this week & feel better soon! I'm going to check out your new reviews :)

    Sue

    Book By Book

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  8. I have definitely joined the school of "if this book isn't working for me, I am putting it down." There are so many wonderful books out there that I don't feel that I have to read certain books anymore. It's really quite freeing!

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